Swarm prevention and oxalic acid treatments

[Finman]

Netherlands research

In 2004 and 2005 experiments were carried out to test the efficacy and
efficiency of Varroa control combined with swarm prevention methods
in spring. Honey bee colonies were split in an artificial swarm and a
brood carrier. Hereafter the swarms were treated with oxalic acid and
the brood carriers either with formic acid (2004) or Thymovar (2005).
Both the oxalic acid and the formic acid were very effective, resulting
in an average efficacy of 97% and 96%, respectively. There was some
worker bee mortality in both treatments. Thymovar was less effective
(71%), but did not cause any worker bee mortality. The results show
that the combination of Varroa control and swarm prevention can
effectively be used in spring.

http://edepot.wur.nl/175590

 

[Finman]

.

Example:

I have a strong hiver which has 3 boxes brood. It is just growing.
Bad thing is that hives has here and there drone brood and they are really full of mites. Soon the give will explode by mites.

There is going now strong spring blooming and after a week bee flowers are few. There will be blooming gap 2-3 weeks.

How to save the hive that queen continues laying......

Two alternatives:

A) Artificial swarm and a brood part. It takes time to wait that brood part emerges

B)
2) I pick a box full of bees and uncapped brood. I treat them and I gove to the weak hive. A week hive starts stronger build up.

3) Again I put the queen to lay in free box (excluder) and it cannot lay among capped brood. Again I pick open brood and bees away and treat them. After 5-6 days I may again look, what I do to separate open brood.

4) Now as a general the mainhive has mainly one week's brood =capped.

If I make an artificial swarm which separate bees and brood.
I treat swarm hive and theen I wait one week that the rest of brood emerge.
Swarm hive has uncapped brood.

5) Finally I pick the rest of brood away from brood hive and treat the emerged bees

.

The main idea is to clean mites and make queen lay for main yield
According experience hives have so few foragers in spring that colony cannot get hioney but it makes lots of brood.

With extra bees I can put other queen too to speed up laying.


.